Auckland DHB apologises for deadly medical experiment

The Auckland District Health Board has finally apologised to survivors of one of the country's worst medical experiments, dubbed "the unfortunate experiment".

August 27, 2018

In a written statement some 50 years later, the Auckland DHB has admitted that an experimental study run by Professor Herbert Green in the 1960s and ’70s led to early deaths.

The study followed women with cervical abnormalities without treating them and without their knowledge or consent.

Clare Matheson, a survivor of the Unfortunate Experiment.

Senior medical staff at the then National Women’s Hospital approved the study, which was eventually found to have been unethical in an inquiry led by Dame Silvia Cartwright in 1987-88.

Her inquiry uncovered a failure to treat the early stages of cervical cancer for patients in the study and also failed in doctors’ ethical practices in relation to information sharing and obtaining informed consent.

Former patient Clare Matheson had the apology read to her, saying it was exactly what she wanted it to be, 1News reported.

“It’s comprehensive, unqualified, an admission of past mistakes and a firm affirmation to make sure they do not happen again,” she said.

“These patients including mothers, sisters, partners, daughters, friends and colleagues … failed by people they trusted to care for their health and wellbeing.

“In many cases, these voices are no longer with us, but their courageous testimony led to far-reaching forms of patient welfare and rights,” the apology reads.